$80.00 CAD
| /
Print depicting scene from Captain Cook's Second Voyage to the Southern Hemisphere. He was in Tahiti August 1773.
Copper-line engraving, engraved by Charles Grignion (1717-1810), after a work by Samuel Wale (1721-1786).
Matted and ready for framing. Matting board has small mini-crease at top, small light stain at top, light smudge at bottom.
27 x 16.5 cm
Second voyage (1772–75)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771, to the rank of commander. In 1772 he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis.
Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, HMS Adventure. Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica, but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage.
